Quick disconnect coupling devices are presently employed, or contemplated for employment, in various applications including for connecting structural components in the construction industries, and for connecting various fluid flow systems wherein preventing spillage is important. Some of the presently known fluid connection systems employ valves wherein parts are designed to rotate, translate , compress or decompress from a coupled flow-conducting position to a decoupled flow-preventing or sealing position. However, these prior systems are complicated in construction and performance, expensive to manufacture, and limited in their applications. Improved coupling devices are needed, for example, as mechanical joints for assembly and construction to join, fasten and support trusses and various components. Construction industries require coupling devices which posses structural integrity and which are light in weight, simple in construction (i.e., few parts-static and dynamic), compact, easy to store, and easy to assemble/disassemble and operate. Additionally, advanced technological industries require coupling devices which are robot-compatible and self aligning, and are easy to inspect and/or handle on-site. Further, the devices need to be highly reliable and capable of mating or coupling items along a common axis, maintaining desired load paths, and withstanding heavy induced loads in tension or compression. The joints provided by these coupling devices should also be capable of handling all axial, bending, actuation, torsional and assembly loads encountered during their uses. In certain industries, coupling devices desirably should or should also be adapted to pass or replenish fluids or join electrical connectors, e.g. for energy or data transmission to various facilities and to simultaneously bear structural loads. Desirably, the devices are operable by remote control. Accordingly, there is a definite need in the art for an improved quick disconnect coupling device.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide the above-mentioned, improved, needed or desired coupling devices.
More particularly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved quick disconnect coupling device that is simple in construction, economical to manufacture, reliable and efficient in operation, easy to employ, and useful in diverse coupling situations.
Another object of this invention is to provide basic designs for quick disconnect coupling devices which are easily employed or adapted to couple any single or combination of a variety of coupleable or connectable items, subject matter and systems, including but not limited to energy, force, fluid, optical, electrical, physical or other items.
It is another object of this invention to provide coupling devices which are utilizable in a variety of applications and yet can be comprised of a small number of basic, interchangeable parts.
It is another object of this invention to provide the aforementioned coupling devices which are inherently self-aligning, easily maintained, quick and easy to connect and disconnect and couple and decoupled, by hand, while on site and/or in use.
It is another object of this invention to provide aforementioned coupling device which when coupled have great structural integrity and/or load bearing capacity in all axes or directions, regardless of whether the item(s) or systems to be coupled is or are coupled, flowing or connected.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a coupling device which couples and/or connects fluid, optical, electrical or other flow or structural components or systems by a single rotation of the coupler, for example, 90.degree., from the position the coupler was in when the housing parts and segments were mated.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide the aforementioned coupling device which, by coupler rotation from a coupled flow-connecting position to many other positions, inherently prevents or restricts flow whether the coupling device is coupled or uncoupled.
It is another object of this invention to provide a quick disconnect coupling device that permits selective coupling of the ends of two fluid conduits for unrestricted flow therethrough with little or no pressure drop, and permits sealing and/or flow of the ends of the two fluid conduits when the coupling device is decoupled.
Another object of this invention is to provide any of the aforementioned quick disconnect coupling devices wherein, when the device is decoupled, flow into the housing part cavity is inherently shut off.
A primary object of this invention is to provide a coupling device comprised of a housing having an interior cavity wall and a coupler rotatably retained therein, wherein the coupling device is coupled or not, depending on the position of the coupler within the housing cavity wall.
Another object of this invention is to provide a coupling device wherein the housing parts and coupler segments are adapted such that the housing parts are coupled by the mere disposition of the mated coupler segments in a position or positions different from the position(s) they were in when they and their housing parts were mated.
Another object of this invention is to provide an aforementioned coupling device wherein the housing parts and coupler segments are adapted such that the housing parts are coupled by the disposition of the mated coupler segments in a position or positions wherein a portion of each coupler segment is disposed within and rotatably retained within or by each housing part.
Another object of this invention is to provide a coupling device comprised of a housing having an interior cavity wall and a coupler rotatably retained therein, wherein the coupling device is inherently coupled when a convex surface wall portion of the coupler or each coupler segment is slip-fit engaged or otherwise rotatably retained by or within each housing part.
Another object of this invention is to provide a coupling device wherein the combination of the housing parts' coupler or coupler segment retaining means rotatably-remaining the coupler or segment, preferably by the slip fit engagement of concave portions of the housing part interior cavity wall, with portions of the convex outer surface wall of the coupler or of one or more of its segments, and the relative disposition of the coupler in the housing part or housing cavity, preferably the relative correspondence or non-correspondence of the mating/parting lines or surfaces of the housing parts and of the coupler, inherently respectively decouples or couples the device. Another object of this invention is to provide a coupling device comprised of a housing having an interior cavity wall and a coupler rotatably retained therein, the housing being comprised of housing parts mated along a mating/parting line or surface and the coupler being comprised of segments mated along a mating/parting line or surface, the coupling device being coupled or not depending on the position of the coupler within the cavity and the alignment or relative correspondence of the respective mating/parting lines or surfaces, the coupling device being uncoupled when the coupler is in a first position wherein the mating/parting lines of the respective housing and coupler positionally substantially correspond and being coupled when the coupler is in a second position wherein the mating/parting lines of the housing and coupler do not positionally substantially correspond.
Another object of this invention is to provide a coupling device comprised of a housing having an interior cavity wall and a coupler rotatably retained therein, the housing being comprised of mated first and second housing parts and the coupler being comprised of mated first and second segments, wherein the housing parts are disconnectable when the segments are in a first position wherein each segment is in a housing part and faces the other housing part, and wherein the housing parts are coupled and not decoupleable when the coupler has been rotated to and is disposed in a second or other position wherein a portion of the wall of the first segment is disposed in and retained by a portion of cavity wall of the second housing part and a portion of the wall of the second segment is retained by a portion of the cavity wall of the first housing part.
Another object of this invention is to provide any of the aforementioned or other coupling devices wherein at least one and preferably each housing part has one or more coupler segment-retaining concave interior cavity wall portions, and the coupler segments each have one or more convex outer wall surface portions, wherein the coupler is rotatably retained in said housing concave cavity by its convex outer wall portion(s) being slip fit engaged by the housing part's or parts' one or more coupler segment-retaining concave interior cavity wall portions, the mated housing parts and mated coupling segments each having a similar mating/parting line, the coupling device being mateable when the mating/parting line of the housing positionally substantially corresponds to the mating/parting line of the coupler, and being coupled and not decoupleable when the coupler is so retained in the cavity in a disposition wherein its mating/parting line does not positionally substantially correspond to that of the housing.
Another object of this invention is to provide a coupling device comprised of a housing in turn comprised of mated first and second housing parts which define a concave interior cavity wall, and a coupler comprised of mated segments and rotatably retained in the cavity, the housing parts being uncoupled and partable when each coupler segment is in a first position wherein it is wholly within only one or is rotatably retained by only one housing part and faces another housing part, and the housing parts being coupled when each coupler segment is in a second position wherein at least one coupler segment is disposed in or rotatably retained within or by a portion of each of the housing parts.
It is another object of this invention to provide an aforementioned or other coupling device wherein each coupler segment's mating/parting line has a non-stopping portion and a stopping portion relative to connection and disconnection of the housing parts and of the segments when within the housing, the stopping portion not being operative when said coupler is in first position thereby permitting said housing parts to be disconnected, but being operative when the coupler is in a second position wherein a portion of each segment is disposed within more than one or each housing part and the stopping portion is not normal to the direction of connection and disconnection to thereby prevent connection or disconnection of the housing parts.
Another object of this invention is to provide a coupling section of a coupling device, the section including a housing part having one or more coupler segment-retaining concave cavity wall portions and a coupler segment rotatably retained within the housing part by the coupler segment's one or more convex surface portions being slip fit engaged by one or more of the concave cavity wall portions.
Another object is to provide methods of coupling coupling devices by mere rotation of a coupler housed within the device.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will be further appreciated from the following description and the accompanying drawings.